At a typical Japanese restaurant, you take the bill to the cashier and pay when you have finished eating. The bill is usually placed on the table in a place where it can be easily seen. You can pay by credit card, cash, or electronic money (payment by smartphone), whichever the restaurant accepts.

Interestingly, Japanese people will often try to pay the last digit (paying 506 yen for something that costs 486 yen), to reduce the amount of small change, or will overpay (paying 1,100 yen when something costs 600 yen) to get one 500 yen coin back, rather than four 100 yen coins. However, you do not need to try to imitate this.

Meanwhile, you will finish your meal and tell the staff you are ready to pay at a high-end restaurant. The bill (billing statement) may be placed in a binder or similar. First, check that the amount on the detailed statement is correct. You can pay by either credit card or cash.

However, if you pay in cash, it is generally considered a bad form to pay with a lot of small changes, as it gives the impression of being slow and lacking in sophistication, so it is more common to pay with banknotes only. Also, it is sometimes considered bad manners to hand over credit cards or banknotes as they are. Fold the receipt or the restaurant’s copy in half and put it into the binder. You will have to wait at your table until the payment is completed.

However, it’s quite different at sushi restaurants.

First, the price is written on a small piece of paper, like a sticky note. There is no detailed breakdown. In other words, you won’t know the price of the omakase course, any extra dishes you order, any drinks you have, whether or not tax is included, etc. This is the norm.

However, a major incident occurred at a high-end sushi restaurant. A Japanese customer asked for an itemized bill because the bill was higher than expected, and it seems that he was charged 1,000 yen per cup of tea, and he was also charged consumption tax twice on the beer. If they were going to charge a cover charge, they should have told the customer in advance.

The opposite is also often the case. In the case of the sushi restaurant I go to regularly, even if I happen to drink a lot of sake (or eat a lot of nigiri sushi), the bill is always the same. The owner says he doesn’t intend to make a profit on the sake. And he says that he would rather the customers eat the seafood than let it go to waste. Since most of the customers at the sushi restaurant are regulars, this kind of response is not a problem.

Whether it’s good or bad, in the case of a sushi restaurant run by an individual, you will leave the final bill, including the omakase sushi, to the owner. This is a custom that is very difficult for foreigners to understand. By the way, I should also mention that tipping is not necessary in Japan.

For your reference.